


Keep Her Close

by ifinkufreaky



Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hirst said this kind of thing is canon for Vikings, Multi, Polyamory, don't blame me, sharing a woman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 04:34:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9640964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifinkufreaky/pseuds/ifinkufreaky
Summary: Harald and Halfdan have both been courting you, and you find yourself unable to choose between them. Good thing they have ideas of their own.Disclaimer: Look, Hirst started this. If it's somehow “the Viking way” in his verse for two brothers to share the same woman, you better believe I'm gonna fucking run with that. If there's anything better than one lover, it's a matched pair of them. And in mine, the brothers are not getting in bed together at the same time, so I'd like to think I kept it just a little classier than he did, too...





	

**Author's Note:**

> This title doesn't mean much other than this song has been in my head all week - Keep Her Close by ODESZA
> 
> I so loved the brothers' conversation outside their tent about how bad they are with women. Here's my little tribute to them. You'll find someone to love one day, guys.

Halfdan the Black kisses like a man savoring his favorite meal. Tonight he had you hidden in a little alley between two tents, had pulled you away just before you went inside and tucked you out of sight so that the evening traffic in the Great Army’s camp wouldn’t disturb you. His tongue explored your mouth slowly, both his hands on your face, pulling you into him. He nipped occasionally at your lips with his teeth.  He had his knee propped between your legs; you wanted to press yourself against him and let the passion growing in your belly take flight, but you broke off the kiss instead. You didn’t want to lead him on too much.

He and his brother, King Harald, had both been flirting with you mercilessly every time you drank together lately, and you felt a twinge of shame recalling how you had let Harald wrap his arms around you quite close to this very spot the night before.

Halfdan seemed alright with you pulling away at this moment, though. “My brother is already inside, let us join him,” Halfdan said through the screen of blonde hair already falling down over his face. Both his hands were still cupping your jaw. “He has been moping around all day, and I think that you are the perfect person to help him feel better.”

Your stomach jumped at his words; you would love to comfort Harald but you are always so worried about making his brother feel jealous. You had not yet made up your mind which of the two you preferred.

Halfdan ushered you through the tentflap with one hand on the small of your back. The large structure was getting more permanent and more comfortable every day; a makeshift hall for Harald’s men to gather in and carouse while they awaited the next movement orders for the army. You, a shieldmaiden from a neighboring contingent, had found this place to be far more entertaining than your own Earl’s camp, and you had quickly attracted the attention of King Harald and his loyal brother.

Harald sat in a large chair pilfered from some English farmhouse, brooding into his drinking horn in the place of honor by the fire. There were a dozen or so of his warriors scattered around the tent, deep in their cups, but none were even attempting to engage with him.

“Look who I found skulking around outside,” Halfdan said, clapping Harald on the shoulder and drawing you over to the king’s shoulder.

Harald looked up like we had interrupted some very important thoughts. When he recognized you, his faced broke into a wide smile that crinkled the tattoos beside his eyes. He said your name warmly and stood to embrace you, but then the dark clouds rolled back swiftly over his countenance. “I am afraid you will not find pleasant company in me tonight, y/n,” he said, clutching you hand for one fleeting moment before letting it drop. “You will have to rely on my brother for entertainment this evening. I will be absolutely useless to you.” Then he sank back down into his seat morosely and stared back into the fire.

“You see? he has been like this all day,” Halfdan complained.

You looked back at the blonde for a moment and then shrugged. “Sounds like we’re going to need some more ale.” You walked back to the pile of stolen barrels at the back of the tent. Once you got there, however, you noticed a few stoppered bottles amongst the brothers’ spoils of war. You picked a large green one up and uncorked it, the sweet scent of wine filling your nose. That might turn Harald’s mood.

When you returned to the brothers with your selection, Halfdan had made himself comfortable in his own chair beside Harald’s. They were the only two real chairs in the place; everyone else sat on makeshift benches or logs destined to become firewood later. You considered dragging a log over for yourself, but something about Harald’s refusal of your company irked you, and you suddenly had no problem trying to rouse him with jealousy.

You knew what his black mood was about; everyone knew Harald had just killed an earl in cold blood, and then killed the earl’s wife in hot. And that this woman was the same princess that had falsely set him upon his quest to become the King of all Norway, making promises she had no intention of keeping. How dare he try and ignore you now, in favor of brooding about this woman that had treated him so poorly.

You swung your hips as you minced past Harald’s chair, giving him a chance for a good look at the way your breeches clung to your ass, then turned and draped yourself across Halfdan’s lap. The blonde brother looked confused but also pleasantly surprised. His hands slid around your waist as you brandished the bottle you found. “You two have been holding out on me,” you tease.

Harald looked up long enough to see what you were talking about; if he had a reaction to your choice of seating, he did not show it.

“I saved a few nice things from that big manor before we burned it last week,” Halfdan said, eyes twinkling at you. “Tonight seems as good a night as any to drink it up.”

You took a theatrical swig from the bottle as Halfdan’s thumb played along your flank. You closed your eyes and let the wine swirl over your tongue for a moment before you swallowed; it was tart and crisp and unlike anything they made back home.

“Do you like that, y/n?” Halfdan asked, voice low and closer to your ear than you expected. The wine made your head feel lighter, and the flirtatious tone in Halfdan’s voice had you warm all over.

“Mmmhmm,” you nodded, then giggled and arched your back when Halfdan nipped his lips at your neck. You looked out of the corner of your eye to see if Harald was watching. His eyes were indeed locked on you, and a weight was gathering in his gaze that was exactly what you were hoping to incite. It was a little cruel of you, but you wanted him back in the world of the living.

You looked down at Halfdan and held the bottle to his lips, eyebrow cocked in invitation. The wild-eyed Viking wrapped his large hand over yours on the neck of the bottle and tipped it up, taking a good long pull. You smiled at him as he drank but your thoughts were racing. Now that you had Harald’s attention it was time to play things a little more safely again, find a coy way to get out of his brother’s lap. You had no intention of destroying the close relationship between the two; wished desperately that you could force yourself to choose between them.

Again, Halfdan gave you an out before you had to push him away. “You know y/n,” he said, releasing the bottle and taking your other hand in his, “my brother is the one who needs a beautiful woman with a flagon of wine in his lap, tonight.” He lifted your hand in Harald’s direction, coaxing you to get up.

You were surprised, but Halfdan loved his brother. Perhaps he was just as loathe to hurt him by playing too much in front of him. You looked back over at the brooding king. Harald was sitting back and leaning on one elbow, drinking horn held idly to his lips as he stared at you from under heavy brows. With perhaps the barest hint of a smile, he lifted his other arm, offering you a seat on his knee.

A nervous thrill flashed through you. Usually Harald was the more charming, and kind, of the pair of them. The fact that he was giving you almost no reassurance tonight made you both tense and strangely excited. There was something deeper brewing in his eyes tonight.

When you stood up, Halfdan surprised you again by pressing a kiss to your fingers before letting you go. Like he was thanking you, like he was happy that you were leaving him for his brother right now.

It took two steps to close the distance to Harald. You felt somehow undressed by the weight of his gaze, and you paused standing just inches from his knee. The corner of the king’s mouth twisted up in a teasing smile, and he spread his hand wide again, as if to say _what are you waiting for?_

You seated yourself swiftly, bottom on his upper thigh, your bent knees tucked between his legs. His silence was making you feel awkward, and you lost much of the provocative confidence you usually swaggered in here with. You almost looked back at Halfdan for support, but decided that would only make this feel stranger.

You almost jumped when a burst of raucous laughter interrupted from a group of Harald’s men to your right. “Everyone is in good spirits tonight,” you bent your head and said to Harald, finally getting your feet back under you. “Except for you. What is the matter, and more importantly,” you leaned in a little further, dropped your voice a little lower, “how can I make it better?”

Harald chuckled at that, and wrapped his hand snugly around your waist. Your breath caught and you hoped he didn’t notice. You had felt attracted to him for weeks, but something was different tonight. There was a rush that came with his touch, like something terribly important was happening. Something that you couldn’t easily take back. You heard Halfdan shift in his chair behind you, but didn’t dare turn around.

Harald leaned his forehead toward you, and you bent until yours almost touched his. His eyes sparkled as he answered your question. “If I know you, y/n,” he said, voice a low rumble in the back of his throat, “you will think of something.” Then he tugged at you with that strong arm around your waist, pulling your body higher up in his lap until you were pressed against his warm stomach. You were sure he saw your arousal written across your face then, a shock going straight through your core. “But let us start with a taste of that wine.”

Harald lifted his chin and looked at you expectantly. You settled your left arm around his shoulders and leaned in to put the bottle to his lips with your right. With your face close to his you gave Harald a small sip, then gave yourself a larger one. You finally let yourself glance back at Halfdan. He had settled back into his chair and smiled at you like he was having a great time watching you in his brother’s lap. He confused you, but the strangeness of these two was part of what had drawn you to them in the first place. They always seemed to do exactly as they pleased, without shame or regret.

Harald threw his drinking horn, still half-full of ale, over his shoulder dramatically. “Enough of that swill tonight,” he announced, “the wine is far superior. Excellent choice, y/n.” His fingers kneaded your ribs playfully as he grabbed the bottle from your hand and took a deeper drink. When he looked back at you, the lust was writ so plain in his eyes you stopped breathing for a moment. He leaned forward, stretching past you to offer the bottle to Halfdan. When his brother took it, Harald used the moment to steal a kiss from your lips.

It was quick, a mere tickle of beard and brush of petal-soft lips. It wasn’t even the first time Harald had ever kissed you. But the shiver that ran through you then threatened to break all your resolve.

Harald sat back, watching your face for reaction. His fingers came to rest lightly under your chin, beckoning you closer to his face. “I think I know what I need to feel better, now,” he rumbled, staring at your lips.

“Oh, what is that?” You tried to sound coy, but your voice was weak. You already knew what he was going to say next.

“You.”

This was progressing much too quickly. Every fiber of your being wanted to melt into Harald right now, but you could feel Halfdan behind you, the memory of his sweet kisses tugging you away at the same time.

“I do not want your brother to feel left out,” you squeaked, finally naming the unspoken competition they had been waging over you for weeks.

Harald waved his hand in casual dismissal. “He is fine. There are other women about, if he gets bored waiting for us.” You blinked, surprised that Harald wasn’t taking this more seriously. His brother’s feelings should mean more to him than this.

 “I don’t mind, y/n,” Halfdan said gently.

You swiveled in Harald’s lap, looking at back at his brother intently. “But _I_ do,” you said to Halfdan, more emotion in your throat than you expected. “I am not… not ready to choose between you.” You let all your anguish show for him in your eyes.

Now it was Halfdan’s turn to look confused. “What is there to choose?” He cocked his head, thinking hard as he stared up at you from under his hair. “Aside from which of us you have first, I suppose that might mean something to you? But Harald needs you tonight more than I do.”

You look down at Harald. Were they saying…?

“It seems we are once again proven to be terrible at understanding women, brother,” Harald said, heaving a sigh and then looking up at you from under his brows. “We had hoped to share you, but I see that is not what you had in mind, dear y/n.”

Something warm and wonderful started swelling in your chest. “I… I had no idea,” you said, looking rapidly between the two of them. “I hadn’t considered that you might want that.” All that guilt and foreboding you had been carrying with you evaporated so quickly you thought you might cry. “I was starting to think I could never choose between you. Are you really saying that I don’t have to?” They were both smiling warmly at you now, like you were a kitten who had just done something adorable.

“No,” Harald said softly, taking your hand and bringing your knuckles to his lips. “You can have us both. We have spoken about it. We will not be happy with any other arrangement.”

When Harald released your fingers you turned and reached out to Halfdan. He leaned forward and caught your hand in both of his, clasped it tightly. “We know we are terrible with women. But after we met you, y/n, we started to think that perhaps the two of us combined might add up to one decent husband.”

You smiled at him, the swelling of your heart making it difficult to breathe. “I… I cannot think of anything I want more.” You could still barely wrap your mind around the idea of being with both of them, nevermind the fact that the possibility of marriage had just been casually laid on the table. But you knew already that this was better than anything you had dared let yourself hope for.

“Well good,” Halfdan said with a sheepish smile. “Then I will forgive the fact that you apparently thought you were kissing me behind my brother’s back.” You ducked your head and grinned in silent apology. “No wonder you have been acting so shy.”

“We thought perhaps you were one of those strange women that needed privacy, or maybe that you were ashamed to be seen with us,” Harald added.

“It was never about that,” you responded quickly. “What woman in the world would be ashamed to be seen with Harald Finehair and Halfdan the Black?”

Harald heaved a heavy sigh in response to those words, and you whipped your head back around to him. “You had better not be thinking about that worthless bitch again. She did not deserve you.”

Harald looked up at you through heavy brows. “Are you going to show me what I do deserve then?”

Your face broke into a huge smile, you were so happy to finally have permission to freely show Harald exactly how you felt about him. You stood up only to climb back into his lap with your legs straddling either side of him. Heat seethed in Harald’s eyes as you settled down onto him, drawing your body close to his and cradling his face in your hands. You dropped your lips to his like a striking predator, and Harald’s mouth opened under yours. His hands ran possessively down your back and over your hips. All of the warmth that had been gathering around your heart dropped straight between your legs and suddenly you couldn’t get close enough to him.

King Harald’s hand found the back of your head and he took control of the kiss, jaw working against yours as he sucked and bit at your lips. You pushed back against him just as eagerly, running your fingers over the back of his neck, playing with the close-shaven stubble at the base of his skull. You pressed your chest into his and buried your face behind his ear, breathing in his rich, woodsy scent before attacking his ear with your teeth.

You got one good groan out of him before Harald was pulling your mouth back to meet his again, unable to do without your kiss for even so short a time. One hand was cradling the back of your neck as the other roamed over your ass. The aching between your legs was only increasing as you pressed yourself against him. You realized you were moving your hips like Harald was already inside you.

A sudden thought for propriety caused you to lift your head for a moment and look around the room. Harald moved his attention to your neck and collarbone and you squirmed as your eyes darted around to see who was still here in the makeshift hall. You were relieved to see that most of the warriors were paying no attention. One knot of Harald’s men simply raised their drinks to you and gave a few whoops of encouragement.

Last, you turned your gaze to Halfdan. He was cradling the green wine bottle and appeared to be perfectly content. Still, perhaps Harald had had a point about you and privacy. You weren’t about to take your clothes off in front of all of these people, and there was nothing left that you wanted to do with Harald that didn’t require at least one of you to be naked.

“Why don’t you take this back to our tent,” Halfdan suggested, catching your embarrassment. “I will wait up for you here, make sure this wine doesn’t go to waste.”

Harald was still sucking behind your ear. You cupped the man’s cheekbones in your hands, trying to pull him off of you far enough to get his attention. “Shall we retire to your chamber, my King?” you asked. He wasn’t actually _your_ king, but you liked to tease him with the title.

“I will take you anywhere you like, y/n,” he said breathily, then grasped under your straddled legs with both hands and heaved himself to his feet, still carrying you against him. You heard a second round of cheers from the men who had been watching as Harald stepped with you toward the tent’s exit.

Halfdan caught your hand as you passed, and Harald paused to let him speak to you. “Promise you will come find me, after,” Halfdan said, eyes gleaming.

 

*****

 

You and Harald almost didn’t make it to the bed. As soon as you got inside his tent you were tearing at each others’ clothes, the only thing hampering your undressing being the absolute unwillingness of his mouth to leave yours. You had only a moment to admire his cock as it sprung, long and glorious, from his pants, before he dropped to the floor to strip your breeches off in one rough move from hips to ankles. He remained at your feet, kissing and biting at your bared thighs as he struggled to free you from your boots.

As soon as both your bare feet hit the ground Harald growled and almost threw you toward his bed. You scrambled up on your back, completely naked, as Harald’s heavily scarred body rose over yours. All his hard-won victories over lesser men were written across his skin, and he allowed you a moment to run your hands across the white lines covering the dense muscles of his chest. Then he pressed himself against your body again, pinning you to the bed.

Harald mouthed his way up to your ear as his hand found your breast, kneading and pulling. “How I have been dreaming of getting you like this,” he murmured into your ear. “I wanted to take my time with your body, but I find that I cannot slow myself.” His eager hardness was pressing against your inner thigh.

“We can go slowly next time,” you say, his lust awakening an equally matched hunger in your sex.

Harald’s hand slid in between your legs and you groaned as you felt his fingers press between your folds. You could feel how wet you were for him, then. The king made an approving noise in the back of his throat and began to line himself up. The slide of his cock against you felt so wonderful that you cried out before he even started to press inside.

Harald brought his hands up to your face, coaxing you to look at him as he began pushing into you. The corners of his eyes crinkled with the effort it took to hold himself back, keep to a slow slide so that you both could relish every inch. He seemed to enjoy watching your face react as he staked his claim. He kissed you sweetly once he was fully sheathed, then with a wicked smile and a low groan began pumping into you urgently.

You laid back and let Harald fuck you. You were no longer concerned with impressing him, seducing him, or even whether you were going to get off like this. It just felt so good to feel him crashing into you, his need writ plain across his face and his hard cock penetrating deeply inside you. You wrapped your legs around his hips and urged him on, harder and faster. Harald scooped up your hips and rose to his knees, hitting you impossibly deeper as he drove your shoulders into the bed. Just when you thought you couldn’t take it anymore, he lost his rhythm and came with a shudder and a moan.

With a satisfied smile, Harald ground himself against you a few last times and then pulled his spent cock from you, laid your hips gently back onto the bed. He collapsed with a sigh beside you and scooped you up in his arms, laying your head on his chest. “That was amazing, y/n,” he breathed, “and next time will be even better, I promise. I am filled with joy, that you finally came to me.”

It did not take long for Harald’s breathing to change into the deep, even pulls of sleep. You might have been annoyed if your night was over as well, but it wasn’t, was it? Halfdan was waiting up for you, ready to seal the other piece of the relationship.

You pulled yourself from Harald’s arms gently, found a pitcher of water and a cloth that you used to cleanse and freshen your body. You had to admit you were aroused again already, just at the thought of receiving two different lovers in the same night. You were absolutely ready to give Halfdan the same passion and attention that you had just given to Harald.

 

*****

 

Halfdan the Black locked eyes with you as soon as you crossed the threshold coming back into the main tent. He was on his feet in an instant, dropping the wine bottle and rushing you back out into the crisp night air. A few paces down the lane he paused, his hands clamped down on your upper arms. The moonlight reflecting from his wide eyes as he looked at you like he had five things to say at once and could not decide where to begin.

“Do you still want me, too?” he asked, surprisingly vulnerable.

You took his face in both hands, smoothing his hair away from his eyes. “Yes, Halfdan. I could not bear to go without you,” you reassured, then pulled him in for an eager kiss.

“Then come with me,” Halfdan murmured against your mouth once he could wrest his lips away from yours. He wove your fingers between his own and tugged in the direction of the low hills beside the camp. “I want to have you out on the earth; I want to see your body for the first time bathed in moonlight.”

You shivered at the image and nodded with a smile.

“I know a place,” he said, and whisked you away.

Halfdan brought you to a clearing atop the hills full of thick, soft grass. He spread his cloak across the ground and laid you down upon it, starting to undress you almost immediately. You thanked the gods that it was not too chill of a night; you still gasped when your nipples hit the cool air, curled into Halfdan’s warm and still-clothed body when he laid down next to your naked form to admire you. His palms felt so warm as he dragged them all over your skin.

“You are even more beautiful than I imagined,” he whispered, then he slid his body down and pressed his face between your thighs.

For someone that claimed to know little about women, Halfdan seemed to know an awful lot about making them come. His tongue found all your secrets immediately, and when he sucked at your clit you arced and squirmed in delight. You thought he must have had an excellent teacher at some point, then you found you couldn’t think anymore at all. His hands wrapped around your thighs and held you down as his hot mouth devoured your core, the cold air on the rest of your body contrasting deliciously with the heat of his attentions. You tried to warn him when the pleasure was about to overwhelm you; he paused just long enough to fix you with his wild eyes and say “let it go, I want you screaming for me,” before dropping his head back down and redoubling his efforts.

You were glad he had taken you so far from camp then, as you squealed between your teeth, unable to contain the way he made your whole body come apart under his mouth. When you finished shuddering he finally released you, and the cold air rushed in pleasurably over your wet nether region. Halfdan crawled up onto his cloak beside you with urgent eyes, pupils blown wide with his own lust. “I want you to ride me now, y/n,” he said, settling onto his back and struggling with his pants.

It took you a moment to find the strength to rise over him, your body still twitching with the aftershocks of your orgasm. When Halfdan pushed his pants far enough down to reveal his weeping erection, however, the fire inside you rekindled and you rolled on top of him with ease. Pure warmth spread through you when your belly rubbed against his cock, then you rose up on your knees, straddling his legs.

You ran your fingers along his length and he shuddered. Halfdan looked up at you like you were a goddess in the flesh, reverently gliding his hands up your thighs. You gripped him with an experimental squeeze and your name fell from his lips like a prayer.   

Your hair fell over your shoulder as you bent to pull yourself over him, hovered a moment with his tip barely brushing your entrance. “Please…” Halfdan said, and you sank down onto him. His cock felt like pure bliss inside of you, after all of the priming your body had received this night.

Halfdan started cursing under his breath as you tilted your hips back and forth over him. He watched your body move in the moonlight, just as he had wanted, hands roaming over your curves as you found the angle to rock against him that felt best. A pleasant heat spread through your entire body as Halfdan started softly moaning your name. You watched him come completely undone underneath you, grinned triumphantly when he could no longer hold still beneath you. Halfdan threw back his head and started bucking into you, only needing three good thrusts before his body seized and you felt his cock pump his release deep inside of you.

You collapsed your forehead onto his. After a moment, Halfdan opened his eyes and rewarded you with a dazzling smile. “You are an incredible woman, y/n,” he panted, “how did we get so lucky?” Then he pulled you against his chest for an enveloping embrace.

 

*****

 

It wasn’t long before you found yourself living in Harald and Halfdan’s tent, acting as a wife to both of them and fighting at their side on the battlefield. Some nights deciding whose bed you would be sleeping in was easy; some nights no one minded if you went straight from one bed to the other. And on other nights the concept of “sharing” stressed the emotional limits of at least one of you. Those nights took more careful negotiating, and always a commitment to honesty and patience. The bonds of love won out every time, and you often felt that you all only grew closer after every successful resolution. Harald and Halfdan were inspiring in their ability to take each others’ feelings into account, and yours as well. Through the years the trust and affection only deepened for everyone.

Formally, you were married only to Harald, as he was the king and you wanted no future disputes about his heirs. Privately, Halfdan was just as much a husband to you, and there was truly no telling who was the technical father of your four children. Besides, that mattered naught to any of you, and gave Halfdan even less reason to ever feel jealous of his brother’s rule or to remove his loyalty. The same children would inherit the kingdom, whichever brother sat on the throne. It wasn’t a life everyone would understand, but it fit you perfectly, and you loved both of the brothers deeply and truly for the rest of your life.


End file.
